Good grief guys your input is excellent but is there a possibility of too much intelligentsia and legal definition on this subject and, I don't mean to be offensive, but is there also a danger of you disappearing up your own back passage in the process ?

It is obvious by now that there can not be one idea or definition of "Traditional" Folk Music. It is a collective of a ritual, an age,a process, a style, a legal definition, a sound, a culture and community and if a "Traditional" author is dead, unknown or out of copyright?

From what I have heard,thanks to all your contributions, I am still confused but come away with the overriding feeling that "Traditional" Folk Music is an ongoing process of sharing/passing on/evolution/carried on/a process of oral transmission/passed down/infinite/handing down/collected/rescued/saved/should not be left in museums/will live forever. etc

Just look at posting on this Mudcat thread that ask for :

Lyr Rec/ Chord req / Lyrics / Origin / Origin Lyrics etc etc .

What does this mean to you ?

The collective and the community are still alive and well.
Like our "Traditional" ancestors we gather and collect via the Mudcat. This is a new "Community" and surely will become the "Traditional" source of the future where "Tradition" never ends.